Daniel Cormier unsure how to handle being the bad guy

UFC light heavyweight Daniel "DC" Cormier answers questions during media day before competing at UFC 187 from the MGM Grand hotel-casino in Las Vegas on Thursday, May 21, 2015. (Martin S. Fuentes/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

It had to be a bit jarring for two-time Olympian and current Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight champ Daniel Cormier to hear the boos from a raucous MGM Grand crowd during a March news conference to promote his title defense against former champion Jon Jones.

Jones, the bitter rival of Cormier who was making one of his first public appearances since he was stripped of the title after being charged in a hit-and-run accident where a pregnant woman was injured, was greeted with roars of approval each time he spoke.

“Different. It’s different. I don’t get it. I really didn’t,” Cormier acknowledged. “But once again, people are entitled to their opinions. Absence also makes the heart grow fonder and they haven’t seen Jon. He’s been a guy that was the greatest fighter of all time. People have seen him grow in front of them. They miss him. That’s part of the reason he got the response he did, but not all of it, obviously. People like what he does. Some people are able to completely differentiate actions inside the octagon from actions outside of it. If you can do that, fine.

“I’m just a guy that tries to carry myself in a certain way and I’m going to continue to do that.”

The fact Cormier was forced to eventually pull out of the bout because of a tear of the interosseous membrane in his left leg probably isn’t going to help sway the fans when he’s able to return sometime in the summer. Cormier said he hasn’t even learned how to pronounce the injury, but explained it is in the ligament that enables the tibia and fibula to work together.

It was the first time Cormier has had to pull out of a fight because of injury in his career. The 37-year-old insists he didn’t take the decision lightly.

“It was a real tough decision, man. I got hurt in practice and there was nothing I could do. I tried to exhaust every option, go to the doctor, get stem cells done and everything I could have done to try to be ready for this fight. I just couldn’t do it. I got hurt training and training in a way I train every day,” he said of the injury, which he believes occurred checking leg kicks. “Any lateral movement pretty much impossible. Any running impossible. Any wrestling impossible. None of that stuff could be done and in preparation for a fight the magnitude of this one, it was impossible to do.”

Jones will instead face Ovince St. Preux for the interim belt in the main event of UFC 197 on April 23 at MGM Grand.

There was immediate social media reaction that Cormier was only withdrawing from the fight out of fear of a rematch with Jones, who won the first meeting by unanimous decision in January 2015.

“We are professional fighters. We fight for a living. To say we’re afraid of fights is crazy,” Cormier said. “Fans are going to believe what they want to believe. I’m not going to change their minds and neither are you.”

Cormier made waves when he invited St. Preux to train with him to prepare for Jones.

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” he laughed. “Anything to ruffle (Jones’s) feathers.”

Cormier expects his recovery time to be between four and six weeks and hopes to reschedule the fight soon after.

NURMAGOMEDOV ON CARD — Unbeaten lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov has waited long enough to return to action.

With scheduled opponent Tony Ferguson out of the main event of Saturday’s UFC on Fox 19 card, Nurmagomedov has agreed to face newcomer Darrell Horcher in a 160-pound catchweight bout in Tampa, Florida.

Nurmagomedov has been out since April 2014 with a series of injuries.

A light heavyweight bout between Glover Teixeira and former champion Rashad Evans will now serve as the main event.

MIR STATES INNOCENCE — Las Vegan Frank Mir insists he didn’t knowingly ingest any banned substances before his March 20 fight against Mark Hunt in Australia, despite his post-fight test being flagged for a potential violation by the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

The former heavyweight champion issued a statement proclaiming his innocence on social media Friday night just hours after news went public. He further elaborated during his “Phone Booth Fighting” podcast as he went into a variety of things that could have occurred to generate a positive test.

Mir said it could come down to something as bizarre as a rancher in Australia beefing up his kangaroos with a steroid that he could have eventually ingested during a meal in the country.

“I’m not pointing the finger anywhere,” Mir said. “I’m just saying there’s so many loopholes for me to sit there and go, ‘Where did it come from?’ Hell man, I don’t know, I really don’t. All I know is that I didn’t willingly take anything.”

The process is only in the beginning stages and Mir clearly intends the challenge the results.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj